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For decades under ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh had been balancing the heavy embrace of its giant neighbour, India, against the deep pockets of China. Yet geography seems no longer the destiny in the Bay of Bengal anymore after a massive 2024 uprising toppled the political order in the South Asian nation.

Under the new government of prime minister Tarique Rahman, Dhaka’s strategic centre of gravity has shifted unmistakably eastward. The recent four-day China trip by prime minister Rahman has, in all good senses, institutionalised a geopolitical realignment.

Through a triad of Memorandum of Understanding and proposals, spanning maritime infrastructure, river management, and trans-regional transport corridors, Dhaka has signalled that its developmental appetites can no longer be contained by New Delhi’s security anxieties.

The shift is evident first in the lexicon of the relationship. In Beijing, the bilateral bond was formally elevated to a “Community with a Shared Future,” replacing the already lofty rubric of a “Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership.”

Such linguistic upgrades in Chinese diplomacy are rarely accidental; they signal a deep, systemic integration. President Xi Jinping lauded Dhaka as a trustworthy partner, while Rahman reciprocated by anchoring China at the very centre of his country’s foreign policy architecture.

China’s stakes in the Mongla port

For a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) administration that assumed power earlier this year following a turbulent political transition, this rhetorical embrace serves a dual purpose. It solidifies domestic legitimacy through the promise of grand infrastructure while offering a........

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